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INSPECTOR CALLS

INSPECTOR CALLS

As a trade unionist , I attended several meetings with representatives of the Inspectorate and the Government Department, including Ministers. Assurances were always given that inspections were conducted in a positive , supportive ethos. Frequently, this did not match the experience of schools.

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Talking about Immigration

Talking about Immigration

Yesterday, I had lunch in a little cafe in the Tollcross area of Edinburgh; it was clean, hospitable and offered an affordable menu. I had vegetable   soup and bread with a coffee; it was delicious; without asking, I was brought a little jug of water, laced with a mint leaf by the waitress; I finished with a coffee and some excellent carrot cake. As I paid, the owners, a very pleasant couple, engaged in friendly conversation and I learned that they were from Turkey and enjoyed living in Edinburgh.

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MILES AWAY NJ EDMUNDS

MILES AWAY    NJ EDMUNDS

Challenging family relationships are too frequently a rite of passage in the process of growing up. In his first novel, ‘Miles Away’, NJ Edmunds adds stultifying dreams, mutilated corpses, suicide, occasional football games and finding a girlfriend, to the mix. The small town boy, Dacre, eases through

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RED ELLEN AND I

RED ELLEN AND I

  I went to see ‘Red Ellen’, at the Lyceum yesterday; it told some of the story of Ellen Wilkinson, working class MP for Jarrow and main organiser of ‘The March for Jobs’, the North East Crusade for Work. Wilkinson operated on many fronts, trying to liberate

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BELFAST – A GENEROUS MEMORY

BELFAST – A GENEROUS MEMORY

My grandfather was the most important male influence on my early childhood; he was a cooper and my recall of him working in his shed remains  vivid. My memories of Derry at the time are of walks by the Faughan where he fished  and visits from his

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